Officials at Indonesian Cultural Day celebrations on Wednesday, led by Indonesian Ambassador to Qatar, HE Ridwan Hassan, with Faycal Haman Adama, Directorate of Cultural Diplomacy, Qatar Museums; Aysha Al Mudahka, Director of Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships, Qatar Foundation; Alexandru Rosca, Communications Office, Qatar Foundation, among others. PIC: Joelyn Baluyut/The Peninsula
The Indonesian Embassy in Qatar held a cultural day in Education City yesterday, featuring cultural performances, intangible cultural heritage items like Indonesian batik and angklung, and the best cuisine of the South Asian nation. South East.
In his introductory address, HE Ridwan Hassan, the Indonesian Ambassador to Qatar, highlighted the value of cultural cooperation in advancing Qatari and Indonesian relations.
“We saw cultural diplomacy as an important part of our mission. Building trust and understanding between nations could start with cultural diplomacy,” the envoy stressed.
The relationship between Indonesia and Qatar is well established not only in the political and economic aspect, but also in the social and cultural fields, including people-to-people exchanges, Ambassador Hassan noted.
The envoy also disclosed that Qatar will build a new resort hotel on the forest island in 2024.
“It’s not only Qatari investment in Indonesia, there are many others especially in the telecommunications and banking sectors, but tourism has become one of the interesting sectors to develop.” The said island is in the eastern part of Indonesia.
He also stressed that together with other nationalities and the country’s 32,000 strong Indonesians, they “will support Qatar’s progress in the future”.
The Indonesian Cultural Day featured a variety of traditional dances, music, coffee demonstrations and batik weaving. Traditional angklung dance and music has been performed by Indonesian cultural organizations such as Puspa Qinarya, Indonesian Ladies Angklung and Sanggar Seni Messaied.
Angklung is a musical instrument of the Sundanese people in Indonesia made from a variety of bamboo tubes connected to a bamboo frame. It is part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, inscribed in 2010.
Angklung is closely linked to traditional customs, arts and cultural identity in Indonesia, performed in ceremonies such as rice planting, harvesting and circumcision.
Batik weaving was also featured at the event. This is a traditional Indonesian garment painted with night candle liquid using a tool called “canting”. In 2019, Batik was recognized as one of the intangible cultural heritages by Unesco.
The event is online to promote the rich culture of the Southeast Asian country and also to celebrate Indonesia’s 77th Independence Day.
Among the officials who attended the event were Faycal Haman Adama, Directorate of Cultural Diplomacy, Qatar Museums; Aysha Al Mudahka, Director of Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships, Qatar Foundation; Alexandru Rosca, Communications Office, Qatar Foundation; Farhan Al Sayed, Chairman of the Qatar-Indonesia Business Council; Wipawan Khanthahiran from Thailand, Daphne Sohan from Singapore, Fazlinda Fuudzil from Malaysia, Farhanah Suhaili from Brunei Darussalam and Tran Phuong Thao from Vietnam.
And, the Association of Indonesian Communities in Qatar, the students of Education City, among others.
Comments are closed.